The Labour Leadership Election Result Will Follow These 8 Ridiculous Moments

What a rollercoaster.

Today, as ballots closed for the Labour leadership election, voters got a chance to sit back and reflect on the latest bizarre instalment of ‘Politics 2016’.

As if Brexit and a new prime minister weren’t enough for the country to contend with, Her Majesty’s Official Opposition has had a tough and turbulent time navigating court cases, expelling tens of thousands of members and witnessing open civil war among its MPs.

Below, we’ve detailed the highlights of what must be one of the busiest 12-week periods in Labour’s history - for better or worse.

1. Shadow cabinet shambles

It all began with Labour MPs’ mass resignation from the shadow cabinet, precipitated by then-shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn’s firing.

2. Media mix-up

With the new shadow cabinet firmly in place, apart from a minor blip involving another resignation, Corbyn decided to invite the media in to film them all getting stuck in.

But it wasn’t until the television cameras all crammed into the room to record their every word that he turned against this idea, uttering the now immortal words...

Sky News

It wasn’t long before camera crews were ordered out of the room and the MPs positioned around Corbyn, including deputy Labour leader Tom Watson, were quite literally reshuffled and replaced.

3. Court kerfuffles

Things only got worse when law suit after law suit dragged Labour through the courts. First it was a millionaire donor challenging Corbyn’s right to automatically appear on the leadership ballot paper, then it was members challenging their exclusion from the election, before the High Court got involved and gave the all-clear to wiping 130,000 from Labour’s selectorate.

Stat from latest Conservative fundraising email: Labour have had more High Court battles than leadership hustings this summer.

They came down six hours later, saying: “Point made. Thank you for all the support.”

6. Traingate

Perhaps the strangest and most unlikely of scandals to rock Westminster came when Richard Branson personally intervened to censure Corbyn, releasing CCTV images of the Labour leader ignoring free seats as he walked through a train he claimed was “ram-packed”.

Leaving the Liberal Democrats’ press office to do as it so often does and use the subject to mock its political opponents with a cutting 404 page.

The other UB40 band (those who split but insisted they had the rights to the name) were even tracked down and asked for their feelings on Corbyn.

“Ali, Astro & Mickey have always been great supporters of the Labour Party, and they look forward to the new leader taking the Labour party back into government at the earliest opportunity,” a spokesperson told the Mirror.